Students served non halal school dinner

31st Mar 2013

Aishah Ali

A Birmingham secondary school served non-halal meals to Muslim students it emerged last month. The Head Teacher wrote a letter to parents and apologised for the “unintentional error” after an investigation was launched by the Birmingham Council department, Direct Services.

Moseley School, a language college, dismissed a member of the catering staff as a result of the incident that took place on December 12 last year, yet details only appeared in February. The error was surprising to many parents since most of the 1,400 students are from minority ethnic backgrounds, with the largest group being Pakistani, accounting for over two thirds of students, and the dinners are therefore served as halal only.

A parent, who now ensures his son takes packed lunch to the school, spoke to Birmingham Mail, “I was shocked – they have failed the children. How did this meal get into the school system to be fed to the children?”

Direct Services provides the meals for the school. In a statement to The Muslim News a spokesman for Birmingham City Council said: “We of course apologise for any concerns this has caused. We do have robust procedures in place and the caterer successfully provides thousands of meals daily to schools. A letter has been sent to all parents to alert them to what happened.”

Specific details over the type of meat have not been released. Halal meat should only be prepared in a particular way for it to be permissible for Muslims, and meat from pig is strictly not allowed at all.

An open day is scheduled at the school to allow parents to ask questions on their concerns and sample the meals provided.

The Muslim News Awards for Excellence event is to acknowledge British Muslim and non-Muslim contributions to society. Over 850 people from diverse background, Muslim and non-Muslim, attended the gala dinner.